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Thursday, 12 June 2014

Hello Friends!
Today I am going to review the Restaurant, "Shree Rathnam", a South Indian Cuisine, Pure Vegetarian Food Chain. My review is based on my dining in at their various branches, take aways, and Home deliveries. The selection of food items I have had at their different outlets can also be considered a factor influencing my review (about taste and quality of food), however I have tried a lot of variety.

Shree Rathnam

Shree Rathnam is established by core team which is having a vast experience of 35 year with various restaurant chains in all over India. Sagar Ratna broke off into two, namely, Sagar Ratna, and Shree Rathnam following the family feud.

The restaurant is one of the famous South Indian Cuisine Restaurant in North India. The food quality, aroma, the ambience of the dine-in, packaging, are all extremely good.

Food Quality

The quality of food at Shree Rathnam cannot be doubted! You get exactly what you pay for. The prices are of course moderate, as per any reputed chain, and the food quality is totally amazing. My experience suggests they use good quality spices/condiments, cereals, oil, etc. in their food. Though I am not sure if they have some kind of certificate for that. If anyone can pass that info to my readers, it'd be great.

Taste

The food is totally amazing. I just love their South Indian Food. The North Indian Food too tastes good, but I prefer Shree Rathnam for South Indian food only.

Prices

I have attached a menu of Shree Rathnam towards the end of the post. You guys can consider the prices there. I find the prices in an acceptable range considering the food quality, reputation of the food chain, quality of services, cleanliness and ambience of their restaurants, etc.

I have tried a lot of food items at Shree Rathnam. I have pics of few. I'll share my experience, of all the food items I can remember, with you all.

Mysore Masala Dosa

It is a spicy Dosa. The Dosa itself has a layer of spices on the inner side, apart from the regular Potato-sabzi masala that the dosas generally have. The Mysore dosa are crispy and brown/red on the outside with a bit of a sponginess on the inside. Since Shree Rathnam is pure vegetarian, the sponginess is a result of the spices only. Else the real Mysore Masala Dosa have meat to make the inner layer spongy.

Mysore Masala Dosa at Shree Rathnam is one of my favourites after the Rava Masala Dosa. If you ever visit Shree Rathnam do try their Mysore Masala Dosa.

Tomato Uthapam

Uthapam can be considered as South Indian Pizza! Shree Rathnam's Tomato Uthapam tastes good. They have a very good amount of tomato topping. But I guess anyone who is not a tomato fan, would rather skip it. You can go for Onion Uthapam which is totally delicious and un-skippable!

Rava Masala Dosa/Onion Rava Masala Dosa

Shree Rathnam offers both Onion, and Sans Onion (Without Onion) variants of many of the South Indian Food Items, even Sambhar! So those who don't eat Onion, can definitely go for Rava Masala Dosa at Shree Rathnam. Though I love thier Onion Rava Masala Dosa, it's my favourite.

Sambhar

Mouth watering, filled with tonnes of vegetables, and perfectly 'masaledaar' (spicy). If you are trying South Indian Food, of course they serve Sambhar with everything (you don't buy sambhar specifically). Shree Rathnam's Sambhar is really good.

Chutney

They offer green and red chutneys with all the food you'd buy. The green chutney is the Dhania-Pudina (Corainder-Mint) Chutney and is really tasty. Though I love the red chutney more. I don't know what all the red chutney has, but it tastes like onion-garlic chutney and has a khatta-meetha (sour-n-sweet) taste. With South Indian food, apart from the Green and Red Chutney you'll get the Coconut Chutney. I didn't like their Coconut chutney much. I find other restaurants' Coconut Chutney much better.

Ghee Roast Masala Dosa

This is something you should definitely try if you are not diet conscious/low-fat eating kid. The normal Masala Dosa is ghee roasted and has such a wonderful taste and aroma of ghee that you won't be able to resist once it'll be served to you. It is much much more crisp and oily. So diet conscious people, skip it. Others, do try it once!

South Indian Coffee

I didn't find anything special about it. The only thing different was that it was served in a small steel tumbler. I couldn't differentiate it from any normal filter coffee. So I cannot comment further on it. Maybe somebody else could figure out any difference.

Spring Dosa

I had this a long time ago, so it's not quite fresh in my memory. But I remember it was very heavy, I couldn't finish it. I was feeling overloaded after having 3/4th of it. It was very very tasty and could satisfy any sort of appetite :D But I'd suggest, if you don't eat tooooo much, then order it ONLY when you have somebody else with you who could help you finish it :P

Paneer Dosa

Very tasty, filled with lots of paneer (cottage cheese) and tastes very good. I guess it was the costliest Dosa at Shree Rathnam.

Chhole Bhathure

Not really cool. Only go for it if your a Chhole Bhature fan. Else I didn't find them good at Shree Rathnam.

Dal Makhani

When I ordered Dal Makhani, I was confused about my decision of ordering North Indian food in a South Indian Restaurant. But I liked it very much. But be cautious! They use cardamom in Dal Makhani, and you can experience it's taste. So if you don't like the taste of cardamom in your Dal Makhani, skip it. Else, go for it.

Butter Nan

Didn't expect a true Butter Nan at Shree Rathnam, but to my amazement, I found really good, thin, and crisp butter nan there. Too much butter added to the taste and aroma to the already well roasted Nan. If you are going for North Indian food at Shree Rathnam, go for Butter Nan.

Dine In Experience

Ambience

As soon as you will step in, you'll know you are in a South Indian Restaurant. The aroma of the spicy and delicious South Indian Food would leave you mouth watering and escalate your hunger multi fold even before you are seated! :D The restaurants of the Shree Rathnam Food Chain have a very good interior. At the entrance you'll always find the idols of South Indian Hindu deities and a small temple kind of with glowing dias (lamps), and agarabattis (incensed sticks).

Cleanliness

Service

I would say the service is good, I cannot say the best service, but Shree Rathnam offers really good service. The waiters would serve you well, you will be treated well, and you won't have to wait for long for your food. Always remember, if the food is freshly prepared, you have to be a little patient.

Rush

The restaurant is generally filled more than 50%. Whenever I have been there, I have seen reserved seats there, suggesting something good only :) In the peak hours and on holidays, there is a lot of crowd, and you may have to wait for a few minutes before you get a seat!

Take Away Experience

You can go to Shree Rathnam, order food, get it packed, and take it home. You are not bound to dine-in!

Packaging

The packing of food at Shree Rathnam was really good, and I wasn't too worried about food spills while I'd carry it to my home. They pack dosas in butter paper, sambhar and chutneys in plastic bags, use good quality rubber bands to pack the polybags, put everything in large cakeboxes, and then everything in a huge polybag and hand it to you.

Service

I didn't have to wait for long to get my order. Though I have never had a chance to go for a takeaway when there is a lot of crowd in the restaurant, so I cannot comment much about it.

Home Delivery Experience

Shree Rathnam offers free and fast home delivery.

Packaging

The packing was really good, and not even a little but of food was spilled when I got he food delivered to my home. They pack dosas in butter paper, sambhar and chutneys in plastic bags, use good quality rubber bands to pack the polybags, put everything in large cakeboxes, and then everything in a huge polybag and bring it to you.

Service

Generally they'd say they'll deliver in 40 minutes on normal days, and 1 hour on busy days. My experience suggests, they deliver well in time, in an acceptable error of &lt5-10minutes&gt.

Menu

For Party?

I threw a party at Shree Rathnam 2 years back. I invited around 12 families and everyone ordered whatever they liked. Including all the tips, etc. I had a total bill of 9750 INR (inclusive of all taxes!). Thus, I consider it a budget friendly option for good parties.

Verdict: 4/5

Shree Rathnam specializes in South Indian Food. But since they offer a variety apart from that, I cannot simply say they are totally amazing. Thus, if I'd review only South Indian food, I'd give them 4.5/5, because their Coconut Chutney ain't that good. But when reviewing overall, I have to consider other food items too. Thus, I give them 4/5. I'll say Shree Rathnam is a very good South Indian Restaurant and totally comparable to Sagar Ratna. One can be confused between which of the two to go to. But they both are good enough. So, the verdict is, Shree Rathnam is a very good Pure Vegetarian Restaurant. If you like South Indian food, SHree Rathnam is a good choice to go for.